1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to remote alarm systems for personal articles, such as coats, purses, briefcases, and the like and, more particularly, to a novel alarm system that is remotely and selectively armed and disarmed.
2. Background Art
There have been many attempts to provide alarm systems for personal articles. Some of these include audible alarm means in the article which sound when the article is moved. The activation of the alarm means may be in response to vibration, movement, opening a lid, or similar physical forces. With some of these, a remote alarm may be activated by the alarm means also. Other devices are audible alarm means disposed in an article to be detected, which alarm means is remotely caused to sound by a person having a remote transmitter who observes the article being removed by an authorized person, the transmitter transmitting a signal which causes the alarm means to sound. The latter devices suffer from the disadvantage that the alarm will not be activated unless the unauthorized removal is observed.
In all these previously known devices, there is no convenient method for arming or disarming self-contained alarm means. With most of such devices, the alarm device is armed and disarmed by the manual setting of buttons, switches, or key locks, or, in some cases, the arming and disarming is accomplished by the insertion or removal of a battery. While such manual arming and disarming works satisfactorily, it is relatively clumsy and time consuming, requires a person to handle the article in which the alarm is contained and may require removing personal items from a purse or briefcase to access the manual setting means.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide alarm means for personal objects, such as coats, purses, briefcases, and the like, that can be remotely armed and disarmed.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such alarm means that is economical to manufacture and simple to use.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.